Spring has Sprung!

As always, it seems as though I can't get to updating about the farm and life around here as often as I would like. It was a hard winter here; at least for a southern area like ours. Winter seemed to drag on. I just washed my insulated coveralls and packed them away this week.

Its the beginning of April now and we only have one more doe to kid. We may have one more due in June and then I hope to freshen all our yearlings in the fall. Kidding has gone well and so far, we have 7 does and 3 buck kids on the ground right now. Those are pretty nice numbers as kidding seasons go.

Personally, life is always buzzing here. Mark started graduate school in January and Bradyn began his second semester of undergrad. Our time has been full with school and home life, with little leftover for the farm but what I can do mostly on my own.

This is a very exciting time for us. Mark's semester is over in one week. He has a break for the summer, so we are hoping to catch up around here. Bradyn will be playing at a variety of summer music events and plugging along, with the hopes of having enough credits to be a junior by September. The younger children are spending more and more time outside. Declan will soon be finishing his "6th grade" work and Liam and Landon (ages 5 and 6), will be tying up their work that falls somewhere between the traditional first and second grades. Declan will attend his very first summer strings camp with his cello in June. We plan to do lots of nature study this spring and summer and simply enjoy our little family.

The red buds are in bloom, Easter has come and gone and today its has reached 80 degrees. My mind, however, is on fall. 2015 is the year in my 5 year plan to cut my herd to an average of half what it is now. That plan was made before I knew about a husband in graduate school and my oldest son in undergraduate studies. So, what will be happening here at that farm and on our website are sales. Cuts are coming. So, if you are one of our goat followers, keeping watching. I will have a few pet quality animals, and the usual breeding stock and potential show animals up for sale from April until fall. I will sell half the yearlings that I freshen in the fall and probably all of their kids. Its time to have our herd where I can manage mostly on my own.

Meanwhile, I am truly enjoying the warmth and sun of this season. Winter was hard, but spring brings new hope. If the joy that this year's kid crop has brought is any indication--there is new hope indeed.